Collins is adamant Blades can settle debt to the fans

The Blades will be taking around 2,000 supporters south for the 328-mile round-trip to West London, with the majority travelling on free coaches laid on by the club – a gesture to repay Unitedites for their loyal support throughout an, at times, fraught season.

With tickets having also been made available at discounted prices for tonight’s televised fourth-round replay, the visiting contingent have gained a further result on the fiscal front.

As for the players, they are determined to provide footballing recompense after Saturday’s wretched day at Crewe Alexandra, when value for money certainly was not given in a poor 3-0 League One defeat.

The emotions of the 1,298 away fans at the Alexandra Stadium at the final whistle were the polar opposite to the ecstasy of almost 6,000 Blades followers who descended on Villa Park and were left to herald a famous FA Cup win early last month.

That was a rare occasion this term in which the Blades – who boast one of the best average visiting supports in League One, 1,413, despite a terrible record of just one away league success in 2013-14 – have rewarded their travelling hordes.

Their main moments of cheer on the road have arrived in the Cup, with Nigel Clough’s side having also won at Colchester and Cambridge United in earlier rounds. They will hope to feed off their fans’ fervour again in tonight’s fourth-round replay.

On providing some payback to away punters after the dismal Crewe result and performance, Collins said: “We are so well supported and these fans show their true worth in terms of their turn-out and numbers and it’s certainly a big factor in terms of wanting to improve for them.

“There’s nothing that inspires you like a big away support, it’s fantastic. At Notts County, we filled the whole stand. You get a huge buzz off it, especially if you score a late winner, like at Villa.

“It’s genuinely true that at one point of the game I thought their fans were starting to ramp up the noise.

“Then I realised it wasn’t their supporters, but ours – and that was at Villa Park.

“Our fans were that good and it was one of the best days of my career. The away support that day was frightening and you couldn’t underestimate what they gave us. It definitely makes a big difference.

“If we are defending that (away end) goal at Fulham and the fans are behind us and we are doing well, it will keep us going. If we are 0-0 with, say, 10 minutes to go and there are however many thousand behind the goal, we can think, ‘Right, how good would it be if we get a goal here and celebrate with them?’

While United fans may be getting a free ride tonight, Fulham – who like their opponents come into the game on the back of a 3-0 defeat, to Southampton – simply cannot afford to be anything like as charitable on the pitch again.

To increase their frustration, the prerequisite for the visitors – mindful of how the bulk of the pressure will be on the hosts’ shoulders – need to display all of the credentials which were so lacking in their weekend loss to Crewe, namely resoluteness and unquenchable desire to dig in and show the ugly side of their game.

If they lay that platform then another famous cup away-day is potentially on, according to Collins, who admits players’ pride as well as that of supporters was stung at the weekend.

He added: “These are the ones were we can almost get a free pass to go out and express yourself.

“But we need to get back in that mindset of being very hard to beat (away). I think some of our best results have been when we’ve done that like when we had a really good period when the gaffer first came in.

“When you have had two good results against Premiership teams, there’s not a complacency, but people start to get an expectation level and think, ‘We can go there and cause another upset’.

“The effort we put in through the previous two games shouldn’t be underestimated, but it’s going to take a really huge effort at Fulham.

“We have given ourselves the confidence from the FA Cup performances that we can do it, but this will be the toughest of the lot.”

Last six games: Fulham LLDLWL; Sheffield United LDDLWL.

Last time: Fulham 1 Sheffield United 0; August 20, 2006; Premier League.

Referee: N Swarbrick (Preston).